HOSA club
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Main Photo from Left to Right: Skylar Wahrenbrock, Meredyth Imrie, Franki Larson, Lauren Blabauch, Elsie Bartlett
Taken by: Amber Merkatoris
Works Cited
HOSA-Future Health Professionals. “HOSA.” HOSA-Future Health Professionals, 2022, https://hosa.org. Accessed 21 February 2024.
Public Health Foundation. “HOSA – Future Health Professionals.” Public Health Foundation, https://www.phf.org/programs/HOSA/Pages/HOSA_Future_Health_Professionals.aspx. Accessed 21 February 2024.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “Wisconsin HOSA-Future Health Professionals | Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.” Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, https://dpi.wi.gov/hosa. Accessed 21 February 2024.
Club of the Month: HOSA
By Alexandra Ghenciu
Have you ever met a health technician? Gotten a tour of a hospital? Met with real doctors? Well, all these things become possible through the RFHS HOSA club. HOSA is an acronym that stands for Health Occupations Students of America.
This club is a nationwide organization founded in 1976 that works with multiple different schools all over the world. Their goal is to help students look into, work in, and inform themselves about different health occupations. The organization was created so both teachers and students could be more involved in the healthcare world. Skylar Wahrenbrock, a current HOSA member, says,"HOSA has provided me with hands-on labs, experiences, and opportunities to refine critical skills for my future profession."
The group is also continuously growing. (HOSA-Future Health Professions, 2020) states that it has now grown to over 200,000 members, and has recently joined River Falls High School.
HOSA is not only for students interested in becoming doctors, but also for ones interested in nursing, dental, pharmacy, and an array of other careers. For example, student Elsie Bartlett shares that, "Being in HOSA has helped me gain interest in different careers I didn't know existed." It can also lead to pre-college students receiving scholarships, experience for resumes, internships, and more.
Elise Gulick, Sydney Thompson
Taken by: Amber Merkatoris
To join the group you would contact the RFHS HOSA advisor, Mrs. Merkatoris who has spearheaded the outreach at this school. Mrs. Merk has made it possible for RFHS to join in the opportunities that HOSA offers for schools. The wisconsinhosa Instagram account is another valid resource for upcoming information and announcements.
What this group does is not only inform people about working in the health force but also to give an in-person experience. They are known for shepherding many interactive learning experiences for curious students. More opportunities like that are the competitions. The different events span from tests, interactive skill assessments, speeches, essays, posters, and more. They will all look different depending on what you choose to compete in. Specifically at our school, seven students will be competing at state in April at WI Dells. These competitions can also be group events or single person.
Dylan Conrad, Kaitlyn Dufrene
Taken by: Amber Merkatoris
At our school specifically, the club works in organizing trips for students, doing fundraisers (like the Valentine's Day chocolate, flower, and cupcake sale that happened just this month), and the previously mentioned competitions. The school also takes part in organizing different trips and labs through HOSA. For example, our school has taken a group of students to a nearby hospital for tours in order to learn from professionals. Students taking the Intro to Health Professions class have the opportunity to go on lots of these excursions. Our school plans to continue with these activities for students and HOSA members. The next most recent activities will be a speaker, the St. Croix County medical examiner, and a lab.
HOSA is one of the newer groups in our school but is an extremely valuable resource. RFHS will continue to send students to state and organize events. A quote from Sydney Thompson, "Hosa has allowed me to explore many careers in healthcare along with learning about and then competing in interesting topics like forensic science,” shows that if you are considering healthcare professions joining HOSA would be a great next step for you.